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Senior Member

At the Tokyo Motor Show, Honda will be rolling out this great-looking little dual-sport based on the CBR250R’s 18bhp single-cylinder. Why is this news so exciting? Well, the current CRF230L is too slow, too small and too expensive to compete with bikes like the Yamaha WR250R. But, if this 2012 Honda CRF250L is made in Thailand like the CBR, expect a price in the neighborhood of $4k.

Senior Member

Lot's of chatter and speculation but looks like it may be priced around what the CBR 250 (non ABS) goes for - B110 000-120 000. Interesting if that will be the case as that makes it a lot cheaper than the KLX. You would have spare baht to make it look like this while showing your mrs the klx price:

Junior Member

Lot's of chatter and speculation but looks like it may be priced around what the CBR 250 (non ABS) goes for - B110 000-120 000. Interesting if that will be the case as that makes it a lot cheaper than the KLX. You would have spare baht to make it look like this while showing your mrs the klx price:

The price has not been annouced yet. Estimatedly it would be 130000-150000. The distributor in Thailand would launch this model around March. Let see what's going on? However those pics is modified demo for the conference. The real model is surely not that attractive.

Senior Member

I'm currently looking for a bike and popped into one of the Mityon Honda dealers in Pattaya and was told these will be in stock in March and priced at 112,000 baht. Which is over 40,000 less than Kawasaki quoted me on a new KLX 250.

Senior member

It will be interesting to see what it does to the second hand prices of KLX 250's. You would have thought that there will be some good second hand KLX 250's available below 90,000 bht in a few months time.

garethw said:

I'm currently looking for a bike and popped into one of the Mityon Honda dealers in Pattaya and was told these will be in stock in March and priced at 112,000 baht. Which is over 40,000 less than Kawasaki quoted me on a new KLX 250.

CRF250X struggles to crack 30hp with CRF250R cams & header, opened up airbox, slip-on muffler, jetting.
WR250F pumps out about 35hp with free mods and slip-on.
5hp is a hell of a lot to give up, especially on a 250F.

Senior Member

Agreed, that isnt the point, but being a Honda fan I cant let idiotic figures like that go unpunished,

Here is a dyno chart I found on Dirtrider.com

A slightly more creditable source than some guy posting in the Yamaha forum on Thumpertalk, not exactly unbiased!!

Here is the graph showing 32.5hp made with the CRF250X, exhaust and cams done

Moving onto the CRF250L, if it is the same engine being used as the CBR250R, then 30hp is achieveable with modifications. At the track the race teams using the CBR250R engine are getting figures around 33-34hp, and this is only the first year of engine tuning they have had, now of course there are maintenance issues here, especially valve train, but is is possible nonetheless..

Senior member

My plan is to buy one of the new Honda CRF 250 L's for the rumored list price of 120,000- 130,000 bht.

There is a huge , incredibly competitive Honda CBR 250, track racing community in the Bangkok region , who are allowed to modify these bikes extensively (the main limitation seems to be combined rider and bike weight must be in excess of 140KG (Check)). I'm told modified, the racing Honda CBR 250's are in the region of 34 HP.

With the contacts we have in the Thailand racing scene, it will be easy to find the right bike team that will be able to modify the stock Honda CRF 250 L (which has the same engine as the Honda CBR 250). Talk is to modify the engine similar to the Honda CBR 250 engine modifications will cost around 25,000 bht. An interesting project to built a KLX 250 eater. :MG

They've converted literally 100's of the racing CBR 250's, so there's a lots of experience as to where the problems arise with the performance enhancements, parts will be immediately available, so should be quick and painless getting it done.

Senior Member

My plan is to buy one of the new Honda CRF 250 L's for the rumored list price of 120,000- 130,000 bht.

There is a huge , incredibly competitive Honda CBR 250, track racing community in the Bangkok region , who are allowed to modify these bikes extensively (the main limitation seems to be combined rider and bike weight must be in excess of 140KG (Check)). I'm told modified, the racing Honda CBR 250's are in the region of 34 HP.

With the contacts we have in the Thailand racing scene, it will be easy to find the right bike team that will be able to modify the stock Honda CRF 250 L (which has the same engine as the Honda CBR 250). Talk is to modify the engine similar to the Honda CBR 250 engine modifications will cost around 25,000 bht. An interesting project to built a KLX 250 eater. :MG

They've converted literally 100's of the racing CBR 250's, so there's a lots of experience as to where the problems arise with the performance enhancements, parts will be immediately available, so should be quick and painless getting it done.

Sounds interesting Phil
What are the Thai racing CBR engine mods for 25K bht ?
I'm guessing cams and higher compression piston for starters, plus a more open exhaust. Do the CBR racers have a means to adjust the fuel injection ?
Next thing is weight. KLX250 kerb weight is 297lbs/135kg, not exactly a light weight.
Have a feeling the CRF250L wont be much lighter.

Senior Member

Bill, for 25k is basically skimming the head, higher compression piston, and camshaft modifications. aswell as this an API ECU unit will fully adjust ignition and fuel injection, i think they are about 8000baht. then a full exhaust system is about another 8000baht.
minimum weight in the racing i think is 130kgs so yes it will weigh pretty much the same as a klx250 one would think.

newf on this board has a fully modded cbr250 maybe he can put some pictures and maybe a video up of the little screamer!

Junior Member

Bill, for 25k is basically skimming the head, higher compression piston, and camshaft modifications. aswell as this an API ECU unit will fully adjust ignition and fuel injection, i think they are about 8000baht. then a full exhaust system is about another 8000baht.
minimum weight in the racing i think is 130kgs so yes it will weigh pretty much the same as a klx250 one would think.

newf on this board has a fully modded cbr250 maybe he can put some pictures and maybe a video up of the little screamer!

hopefully I'll get ECU tuned up this week and then I'll have a better idea of the extra HP from the mods, plus I might take it down to dirt shop for a quick Dyno run. I believe a stock cbr250 ran at 21hp on their Dyno.

It was 25,000baht to get the engine modded with exhaust because I already had the API tech ECU, but I was quoted 35,000baht if I took my stock bike in. Next time I have it at the track I'll grab a few videos, on and off the track.

Senior member

Bill, for 25k is basically skimming the head, higher compression piston, and camshaft modifications. aswell as this an API ECU unit will fully adjust ignition and fuel injection, i think they are about 8000baht. then a full exhaust system is about another 8000baht.
minimum weight in the racing i think is 130kgs so yes it will weigh pretty much the same as a klx250 one would think.

newf on this board has a fully modded cbr250 maybe he can put some pictures and maybe a video up of the little screamer!

hopefully I'll get ECU tuned up this week and then I'll have a better idea of the extra HP from the mods, plus I might take it down to dirt shop for a quick Dyno run. I believe a stock cbr250 ran at 21hp on their Dyno.

It was 25,000baht to get the engine modded with exhaust because I already had the API tech ECU, but I was quoted 35,000baht if I took my stock bike in. Next time I have it at the track I'll grab a few videos, on and off the track.

Senior Member

Making the power from a 250 4 strokes isnt the problem, AMA supercross 250's can make in excess of 50hp. Like LIVINLOS said though the issue comes with reliability. I would have thought that high 20's hp is easily achievable whilst retaining a very reasonable level of reliability. If you stuck with exhaust, ECU, maybe a cheeky compression bump up and minor cam modifications then I see no reason why it cant be done.
The main issues with reliability I'm Told come when the valves and valve springs are extensively modified, this is what can give them the extra bit of horsepower but the maintenance then becomes an hourly figure. not what I guess most people here would want.